Apart from the fact that I was fighting for my dear life when Tieriayooluwa turned 7 months old on May 25, 2022, I was not physically with him and his dearly beloved mum.

There are so many things I can write about this dear son today; so so many and I think that one of these days I may just pour out my heart in a book to him and concerning him.

Today, I write about how he is a restrainer of my thoughts, actions and omissions. Before, he was born there was a question I always asked myself, which has become more real to me since he came: is this the legacy I want to leave for a child? The other one is: would these thoughts, actions or omissions make my child to say I am proud of my dad and to be his son for who he is and the life he led?

I believe I owe my child, who I vigorously invited to this world to build a world fit for him in accordance with the universal principles, which God, the Maker of all things created to govern the affairs of this world. I believe I owe him the duty to prepare him to live and lead in such a world. I believe these transcendent universal principles are absolute and are defined by their value. Value here refers to the essence, the functioning reality of a thing, what it is designed to deliver in its true form and how it is designed to deliver the same.

I believe I am Tieri’s friend, as friendship means comparability of values. I am just a friend in authority and such authority does not speak of superiority. It only speaks of order as God is the one, who designed it so. The purpose of my authority is to inculcate a positive value system into him in the transcendent order. My authority is transient in nature. It is terminated by age or by death but the value system I inculcate in him using the currency of my transient authority remains from generation to generation. With this in mind, I am careful, what position I take or endorse in private and public. Why? The force and the tool of using the currency of authority to communicate transcendent positive value system is the almighty EXAMPLE. That is why I keep saying that our precious children are either beneficiaries or victims of our examples.

I must not take a shallow position on any matter of private or public interest. What does it mean for an opinion to be shallow? It means it is devoid of value, the essence of the design of the subject matter.

Take for example, recently, the 2 major political major parties in Nigeria held their so-called primaries and claimed that some individuals emerged. Those who want to explore the situation to bring out some principles went to town, enjoining us to study the strategies and system employed by one of them in particular to carry the day at the so-called convention.

I become uneasy about such position and I ask the question: is this the worldview or perception I want TIERIAYOOLUWA to have about concepts like strategy, system, success, win, lose and the likes? Are these views being expressed in conformity with the transcendent perspectives, which is predicated on the essence of the same? If this is not what I want him to believe, I therefore must engage because if I don’t, I have not left credible alternative thoughts for him when he encounters these things in the future.

I will wrap up this write up today with one of my responses to the protagonists of the thoughts I tried to described above, who also proposed that the strategies employed by one of these crooked political figures should be studied in Ivy League institutions of learning around the world:

‘I honestly do not think that concepts like strategy, win, lose, success and the likes can be defined outside the essence of the subject matter in question. The question here is what is the essence of politics? It is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The end is the welfare and the security of the people. In this instance of the so-called emergence of #ATIKU and #BAT, through a gross abuse of democratic processes known to the civilized world, the question is what is the definition of strategy? What strategy? What successes? What wins?

Igbo Apprenticeship and Mo Abudu’s Film Making prowess are noble Ideas and they are worthy of study. I do not think they belong to the same class like the crookedness of the Nigerian ruling class, which provides a level playing field for one or some of its own to emerge in a stage-managed contest to deceive the unwary and tickle the fancy of the naive.

At the end of the day, the political class does not lose or leave any of its own behind. It will always find something for them to do. The only loser here is the masses of our people who are likely to be sentenced to the gulag of misgovernance for another 8 years.

Let us now assume without conceding that #ATIKU and #BAT’s so-called successes should be studied. It should be studied the same way history has studied and recorded the misadventure of small and mean men and women in political power, who used such power to serve the cause of their greed. The purpose of such study must be how to ensure that these kinds human tragedies, masquerading as politicians or flag bearers do not rise in our nation again in a long time to come. Shalom!’

Here is my conclusion today as we mark June 12 in Nigeria, I think it is an endorsement of evil to pretend that the people’s sorrows, tears and blood was not the pathway to the emergence of the lead political actors in the two leading Nigerian political parties. Foreign exchange which is not available for those who want to do legitimate businesses, pay their medical bills or pay their children’s school fees, who they sent abroad due to the collapse of our educational system was available to be doled out to purchase ‘votes’ from delegates by men, who cannot explain to Nigerians how they made their money.

And some people call that charade or daylight robin-hoodery strategies for us to study and success principles we should teach our precious children at a family altar or civic education classes?

Whether it is politics, entertainment, lifestyle or any other subject matter, the end does not justify the means for me. I will not teach my child about planing, success, strategy, system without the essence of the same, the value behind the same and how to build an egalitarian world.

In helping him to understand how this world works, I will define evil for what it is, which is an abuse of the essence of a thing. I will lead and show him the positive uses of power and how to live powerful. I will also share with him examples of those who have exploited it in private and public lives to make life miserable for others and how to stop them and their seeds.

This is my commitment to made a troop of him of what is right till I draw my last breath.